A woman's orgasm may have a lot to do with her ability to focus on her body and steer her thoughts a certain way, a new study suggests.

Women in the study who reported regularly reaching orgasm during sex seemed to be more focused on their bodily sensations during intercourse than the women who had trouble having regular orgasms with their partners, the researchers said.

The researchers also found that the women in the study who regularly reached orgasm during sex reported having more erotic thoughts when they were having intercourse than those who did not have orgasms regularly during sex. However, both groups of women reported having equal amounts of erotic thoughts during self-stimulation without their partners present.

The researchers did not expect that the cognitive aspect of orgasm in women would be as important as the results suggested, said study author Pascal De Sutter, a professor at the department of sexology and family science at the University of Louvain in Belgium. [Busted! 6 Gender Myths in the Bedroom & Beyond]

"It seems that women have no problem" focusing on erotic fantasies when they are on their own, De Sutter told Live Science. But women who do not have regular orgasms during intercourse seem to have more difficulties focusing their attention on the present moment when they have sex with their partners, she said.

And concerns about their looks and weight may also distract some women, De Sutter said.

For the study, the researchers recruited 251 French women ages 18 to 67. That group consisted of 176 women who defined themselves as "orgasmic," which means that they regularly had orgasms during sex, and 75 women who defined themselves as "not orgasmic," meaning they reported having difficulties reaching orgasm during sex with their partners.

All the women in the study were sexually active, "with a frequency of sexual activity varying between two and 90 times per month," the researchers wrote. Almost 90 percent of the women were heterosexual.

The women in the study answered questions about the emotions, thoughts and behaviors that typically play a role in being able to orgasm, during both sex and self-stimulation.

The results align with those of existing research, published in September 2011 in the journal Sexologies, the researches said. That study found a link between the lack of erotic thoughts during intercourse and difficulty in reaching orgasm for women. The study also determined that the women who had difficulties reaching orgasm were more likely to be distracted by thoughts during intercourse that were not related to sex.

Elke Reissing, the director of the Human Sexuality Research Laboratory at the University of Ottawa, said that she thought the new findings about the importance of the use of erotic thoughts during sex were particularly interesting. They suggest that women could employ certain techniques to increase their ability to focus on their physical sensations, she said.

Certain treatments now in use do address such issues, she said.

"There is some evidence in the literature that suggests that mindfulness approaches to the treatment of sexual dysfunction can be quite successful," Reissing said.

Women also show differences related to their ages, as younger women are more likely to experience problems having orgasms than older women, Reissing said. This suggests that there is likely a learning aspect to being able to reach orgasm more reliably, for instance, by using erotic thoughts, she said.

The new findings were published in the June issue of the journal Sexologies.

Although it can't be considered an alternative to daily exercise, having an orgasm is a cardiovascular activity. "Your heart rate increases, blood pressure increases [and your] respiratory rate increases," says Berman. And because it's akin to running in many physiological respects, your body also releases endorphins. Sounds like a pretty fun way to work your heart out.

Feeling down in the dumps? An orgasm might be just what you need to pick yourself up. In addition to endorphins, dopamine and oxytocin are also released during orgasm. All three of these hormones have what Berman terms "mood-enhancing effects." In fact, dopamine is the same hormone that's released when individuals use drugs such as cocaine -- or eat something really delicious.

A little pleasure may go a long way towards a good night's rest. A recent survey of 1,800 women found that over 30 percent of them used sexual release as a natural sedative.

Having an orgasm not only works out your heart, but also your head. Barry Komisaruk, Ph.D. told Cosmopolitan that orgasms actually nourish the brain with oxygen. "Functional MRI images show that women's brains utilize much more oxygen during orgasm than usual," Komisaruk says.

One thing that Victorian practitioners may have been onto is that orgasms can work to soothe certain aches and pains -- namely migraines and menstrual cramps. (So now you know what to do next time you have a headache if you don't feel like popping an Excedrin.) According to Berman, the contractions that make up an orgasm can actually work to evacuate blood clots during your period, providing some temporary relief.

Most of our lives are so hectic that it's hard to even imagine being relaxed. However, it turns out that sexual release can double as stress relief. Not only do the hormones help with this task, Berman says that being sexual also gives our minds a break: "When we're stressed out and overextending ourselves, [we're] not being in the moment. Being sexual requires us to focus on one thing only."

There actually might be something to the idea that we "glow" after sex. The hormone DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), which shows increased levels during sexual excitement, can actually make your skin healthier.

Last but not least, when you know what it takes to make yourself orgasm, you may increase your emotional confidence and intelligence. "When you understand how your body works and ... [that it] is capable of pleasure on its own, regardless of your partner status, you make much better decisions in relationships," says Logan Levkoff, Ph.D., a sexologist and certified sexuality educator. "You don't look to someone else to legitimize that you're a sexual being."